Weekend Wrap-Up: Logan’s $88.41 million Start Suggests Long Legs

March 7th, 2017

The weekend belonged to Logan, as it opened with $88.41 million and easily earned first place. Second place went to Get Out, which held on far better than anticipated, while The Shack is on pace to become a midlevel hit. There was almost nothing but good news. Almost. Overall, the box office rose 53% from last weekend, earning $189 million. More importantly, the it was 16% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2017 is still behind 2016; however, that gap was nearly cut in half from its peak just a couple of weeks ago. 2017 is now behind by 2.7% at $1.92 billion to $1.97 billion. If 2017 can put together a few more weeks like this, then it could climb into the lead before April begins. That is a big “if” and I would be satisfied with cutting the gap in half by the end of the month.

It was a wild ride for Logan, as the film started off with $33 million on Friday, which was a little lower than anticipated. However, it held on better than expected to earn $88.41 million over the full weekend. Fanboy films rarely have better than average internal multipliers, even ones with 92% positive reviews and an A minus from CinemaScore. The film does have to deal with direct competition next weekend, but even so I feel confident it will reach $200 million before its run is over.

Get Out held on amazingly well, and was down just 15% to $28.24 million over the weekend for a total of $78.08 million after two weeks of release. A 15% drop-off is virtually unheard of these days, while horror / thrillers tend to have short legs compared to most other genres. The film will get to $100 million by this time next week, which is enough to pay for its entire production budget, global advertising budget, and likely a big chunk of cost of the DVD / Blu-ray release.

The Shack debuted in third place with $16.17 million over the weekend. The reviews are bad, but the film got an A from CinemaScore, so it could have long enough legs to reach $50 million in theaters. That’s more than enough to be a financial success.

The Lego Batman Movie earned forth place with $11.70 million over the weekend for a total of $148.68 million after three. It is the biggest hit released in 2017, but it won’t keep that title for long.

John Wick: Chapter Two rounded out the top five with $4.80 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $82.95 million. It will top $90 million domestically, so it will only need $60 million internationally to break even during its initial push into the home market. It is already past that mark, so profitability is nearly assured at this point.

Before I Fall just missed the top five with $4.69 million over the weekend. Unfortunately while it nearly managed to earn a spot in the top five, it still failed to reach the Mendoza Line with a theater average of $1,999. This is the third bomb of the year for Open Road. The distributor needs to turn things around soon. The film’s reviews were much better than its opening, while its B from CinemaScore isn’t that bad either, so maybe it will find an audience on the home market.